joseph shackford

From Abner R Shackford’s letter to Samuel Shackford, we learn that his father, William Shackford was born July 22, 1789 and died May 15 1831. We have not found any other sources that document his birth date or parents but do find his death in the Massachusetts Town and Vital Records stating that he died of pleurisy and was buried on May 17th in the South Burial Ground. An announcement of his death was also published in the Portsmouth New Hampshire Gazette.

William married Mercy Rose, the daughter of Eber and Elizabeth (Greene) Rose of Newbury in Newburyport on March 19, 1812. She was born January 24, 1795 as reported in Abner’s letter and documented in vital records which provide us with her parent’s names.

William’s first two children William Brown and Joseph were born in Newburyport in 1812 and 1814, his other children Thomas, Abner R. (died young), Mary B, Louisa, Caroline Elizabeth, Abner R, Lucinda, and Emeline were born in either Weymouth or Boston which indicates that he moved to Boston.

There is one William Shackford listed in The Boston Directory between 1820 and 1830. He’s listed as a bricklayer and a mason and lived at Elliot Street, Carver Street, Rear 39 Warren Street and then 29 Boylston Street. We weren’t certain he was the right William Shackford until we reviewed every William Shackford in our database to see if there were any other William’s of the correct age who could have been living in Boston. We found two other possibilities – both Williams who we don’t know much about so we then reviewed each of the Shackford listings in each of the Boston directories and discovered these directories using Wikipedia Boston directories. (The Wikipedia site links users to digital versions of the directories.)

When we reviewed the 1830 and 1831 directories we found William Shackford, mason living at 29 Boylston Street. We know that William died on May 15, 1831 and when we reviewed the 1832 and 1833 directories we find his widow Mercy living at the same address. This helps confirm that the William Shackford we find in these directories is the same William Shackford we are researching.

We also know that William’s widow Mercy married Joseph Newell on January 18, 1834. We find Joseph Newell living 29 Boylston in the 1835, 1837, 1838, and 1840 censuses and have discovered that the 1837 directory lists Mercy’s two children William B and Joseph living at the same address.

Boston Directory, 1837Boston Directory, 1837

We also verified that this William Shackford is the William Shackford listed in the 1820 and 1830 census living in Boston. We created a spreadsheet of each of William’s 10 children, calculated the ages of the children for the years 1820 and 1830 and compared the living children with the list of male and female children with each census discovering they match exactly and also tell us that a female adult over the age of 45 was living with William in 1820.

Now that we know we’ve verified that this William Shackford, the father of Abner R Shackford is the same William we find in multiple Boston directories and censuses, we’ll put together a description of his short life in a future blog.

All posts on this website are a work in progress. We’d love to learn of any corrections or additions to the information shared. Also we’d love it if you’d like the post here or at http://www.facebook.com/shackfordgenealogy) as that helps share the post with others. Thanks!

Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, , William Shackford, 15 May 1831; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 October 2016); Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records.

On November 25, 1888, Abner R Shackford, the son of William and Mercy (Rose) responded to a letter from Samuel Shackford. We’re very fortunate that this letter was kept by Samuel and preserved by the Winnetka Historical Society. because the enclosed Family Record page he completed included information about his family that we have not found elsewhere in our Shackford Family History Research. From the letter we learn:

That Abner lived in Roslindale when he wrote to Samuel.

Abner was impressed with Samuel’s letter and hoped to meet him someday and ends his letter saying he hoped to hear from Samuel again.

The reference to Thomas Joseph and probably refers to Abner’s uncles Thomas G Shackford and Joseph Shackford who lived in Newburyport. Thomas did have a son George who died at the age of nine months.

Abner did not know the death dates of his two sisters Caroline and Louisa May.

Samuel’s letter probably mentioned William Brown Shackford, his wife Catherine and their children as Abner tells Samuel that their daughter May who married a Mr Lougrin had died, that Catherine is living in Dorcester (interesting — as we find her in the 1887 and 1890 Syracuse directories living with her son – perhaps she was visiting someone in Dorcester), and that Joe has two boys ages 14 and 8.

Abner has a wife and daughter.

The Family Record page includes the first information of birth and death dates for Abner’s parents that we’ve seen and lists siblings that we have not yet hear of.

We’ll spend the next few weeks focusing on these families – sometimes when you have dates it’s easier to find more information about the families.

Letter Abner Shackford to Samuel Shackford – page 1 of 3

Roslindale Nov 25th 1888
Mr Samuel Shackford
Dear Sir
Received
your kind letter was glad to
hear from you although I
have never seen you but would
like to have you come and see
us if you are east. I will give
you all the information I can.
I don’t know anything about
Thomas Shackford and his
son, there are some Shackford’s
living in Newburyport Mass
perhaps if you write there you
can find out something about
them. I will send you a list
of my Father’s family the name
you wanted to know about is
Joseph. There are two more deaths
that I will try and find out –
about they are my sister Caroline’s
and Louisa’s death I will write
and let you know when I find
out. May K. Shackford is dead
she married a Mr Loughrin
she only lived 13 months after
she was married. I would like
to have you write to me again
and tell me some more about
the Shackford’s. Mays mother
is living in Dorchester. her son
Joe lives in Syracuse N. Y.
he has two little boys about
14 and 8 years old. There are
only 3 of us myself wife
and daughter. I will close
hoping to hear from you again
Your’s Truly
Abner R. Shackford

Attached Family Record Page [note: appears to be annotated in pen by Samuel before sending and after he received the document]Please fill up the following Family Record as fully as possible with all the details you have in your own possession, or can gain access to in the possession of others, and return as soon as possible to [hand written] Samuel Shackford Chicago Ill

Family Record of William Shackford – Your Father

NAMES OF HEADS OF FAMILY,
with the children in order of birth BORN DIED

All posts on this website are a work in progress. We’d love to learn of any corrections or additions to the information shared. Also we’d love it if you’d like the post here or at http://www.facebook.com/shackfordgenealogy) as that helps share the post with others. Thanks!